Oscar Brown Jr. | The Snake

Donald Trump has often appropriated the jazz/soul work The Snake of musician and radical social activist Oscar Brown, Jr. to drum up fear of immigrants. But in Oscar Brown's telling the story has a very different meaning. Complete story here.

Remembering Hugh Masekela, South African Jazz Musician and Anti-Apartheid Activist

Robin Denselow The Guardian
Hugh Masekela - trumpeter and singer-songwriter was a pioneer of jazz in South Africa and a campaigner against apartheid in exile. The "Father of South African jazz," Masekela died in Johannesburg Tuesday. Masekela was one of those rare artists who succeeded in fusing politics with music, making his songs and performances compelling and timeless.

Friday Nite Videos | October 20, 2017

Portside
General John Kelly's Credibility Takes a Hit. C Jam Blues | Robi Botos, piano,? Dave Young, Bass, and Alvin Queen, Drums. Immigrant Prisons. What Are Gravitational Waves? Generation Revolution: Documentary Trailer.

C Jam Blues | Robi Botos, piano, Dave Young, Bass, and Alvin Queen, Drums

U.S. Homeland Security has informed jazz great Alvin Queen that he will not be able to enter the country to perform at a concert in Washington, D.C. next month because of a brush with the law over 50 years ago, when Queen was a minor. Here is Queen on the drums in Oscar Peterson's C Jam Blues.

Tidbits - October 19, 2017 - Reader Comments: Stop Trump War on North Korea; Puerto Rico; The Harvey Weinstein Story; The Anti-War Movement; Socialism; Salsa Meets Jazz For Puerto Rico; ...and more

Portside
Reader Comments: National Mobilization to Stop Trump War on North Korea; Saving Puerto Rico - U.S. Responsibility for Colonialism; The Harvey Weinstein Story; The Anti-War Movement and Ken Burns' PBS Series; Socialism - Readers Exchange Ideas; Reality Winner; Salsa Meets Jazz For Puerto Rico; ...and more

Steely Dan | Do It Again

Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker produced compelling combinations of jazz-infused guitar and elusive lyrics. Sound from the 1972 studio version, video from the 1973 Midnight Special. RIP 1950-1917.

books

A Vital Chapter in Jazz History

Michael J. Agovino The Village Voice
In the 1970s a group of African American experimental jazz improvisors organized musician-sponsored concerts in a network of lower Manhattan lofts. The music they produced was not only sonically adventurous, much of it was also driven by a host of social concerns. Michael Heller has published a new history of this movement. Michael J. Agovino helps guide us through this important cultural moment.

film

Review: 'Miles Ahead,' an Impressionistic Take on Miles Davis

Manohla Dargis The New York Times
Does it matter that stretches of "Miles Ahead"— a gun-rattling, squealing-tire car chase included — came out of the filmmakers’ imagination rather than Davis’s life? Purists may howl, but they’ll also miss the pleasure and point of this playfully impressionistic movie.
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